watchOS 4.3.1 suggests future support for third party watch faces

Guilherme Rambo for 9to5Mac found some interesting code in watchOS 4.3.1 that hints at third party watch faces:

[…] A component of the NanoTimeKit framework, responsible for the watch faces, implements a developer tools server that’s probably designed to communicate with Xcode running on a Mac. One of its methods has a very interesting log message:

The log message in the image reads:

This is where the 3rd party face config bundle generation would happen

Not surprising that Apple may already have dormant support for this, but I’m wondering how they’d handle it. I think there are two schools of thought. On one hand, Apple Watch could use third party watch faces to spice things up a bit. It may even spur further interest in Apple Watch apps as a whole.

On the other hand, I’d say watch faces make up at least fifty percent of a watch’s brand. That’s any watch, not just a smart one. Apple is very careful and precise about any kind of customization with the potential to alter their branding. For instance, you can’t change the look of the home or lock screens on iOS. At most, you can change the wallpaper, and that’s it.

What I could see Apple doing is meeting us somewhere in the middle by opening up Apple Watch faces development to a small number of artists or institutions. In a sense, they’ve already done this with Nike and Hermès, the difference being those faces are only available with their associated unique hardware. I can see an extension of this kind of partnership to include accomplished artists, colleges, and the entertainment industry.

Imagine an official collegiate Apple Watch face, or maybe one by your favorite musical group. I know I’d buy a few. I would expect these faces to have equal functionality (complications what whatnot) as the stock ones.

I really don’t think Apple will let just anyone create a face for Apple Watch. It’s just too risky for their branding. If you’ve seen the some of the terrible third-party faces available for other smart watches, you wouldn’t want just anyone building Apple Watch faces either.

Originally published at One-Tech Mind.